FSU loses to Duke in Coach K’s 900th win at school

Florida State was outrebounded 27-7 on the offensive glass and 47-24 overall.

Mark Dolejs/Mark Dolejs-USA TODAY Sports

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Florida State shot well enough to give itself a chance at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Seminoles undermined that effort by failing to keep the Blue Devils off the glass.

Duke took a 47-24 rebounding advantage, including 27 offensive rebounds that led to 29 second-chance points in a 78-56 victory Saturday. The offensive boards gave the Blue Devils 15 more shots and 25 more free throws, which offset a miserable shooting performance that coach Mike Krzyzewski credited to FSU’s defense.

"When you’re going on a run, your enthusiasm is at an all-time high," FSU’s Okaro White said, "and offensive rebounds and putbacks hurt because you play so hard the entire defensive possession. And you have to finish that possession with a rebound."

The Blue Devils pulled down 16 offensive rebounds in the second half and rebounded 54 percent of their own missed shots or free throws for the entire game.

FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said he thought Duke was more aggressive, which created numerous problems.

"We’ve been holding our own on the boards but we had to go small to adjust to their lineup and we were not as big as we normally are," Hamilton said. "They did a very good job of taking advantage of … our lack of size during most of the game and secondly, I thought they were a lot more aggressive attacking the boards and coming off the bounce. And then getting as many offensive rebounds as they did put us in position where we fouled an awful lot."

For Duke, Rodney Hood scored 18 points as Krzyzewski, the Hall of Fame coach, earned his 900th victory at the school.

Jabari Parker added 14 points for the Blue Devils (16-4, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who won their fourth straight game and extended the nation’s longest active home winning streak to 28 games. Duke used an 11-0 run late in the first half to build a 20-point lead and never let the Seminoles get the margin back to single digits again.

Krzyzewski is the all-time leader in career victories in men’s Division I with 973. He joins Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim as the only coaches with at least 900 wins at one program.

White scored 14 points for Florida State, which shot 50 percent but couldn’t protect the ball or keep the Blue Devils off the boards.

FSU, which won in its last trip here on a last-second 3-pointer two years ago, led by one point for about 1 minute in the first half. But key scorer Aaron Thomas, who was coming off a 20-point effort against Notre Dame, finished with two points on 1-for-7 shooting before fouling out with 5:13 left.

It wasn’t a vintage Duke performance. Krzyzewski was animated and often unhappy with his team in the early minutes, slamming down a chair during an early timeout and shedding his suit jacket by the 12-minute media timeout.

Then, after Duke looked to be in cruise control, the Blue Devils went nearly 7 minutes without a basket in the second half. They stayed in control by hitting free throws after FSU got as close as 11 points on Montay Brandon’s layup with 6:51 to play. Quinn Cook ended the drought with a driving basket that made it 71-54 with 3:25 left.

Duke made 34 of 43 free throws for the game, including 20 of 27 after halftime to offset a 6-for-27 shooting performance (22 percent) in the second half.

Hood was a last-second scratch from the starting lineup. Krzyzewski said Hood was sick, though Hood told reporters he had to change after spilling Gatorade on his uniform. Hood missed his first five shots, but he scored 14 points after halftime.

Duke also got a boost from reserve big man Marshall Plumlee, who posted career-highs of seven points and seven rebounds — with each rebound coming on the offensive glass.